Tetrahedron
by Target22
Summary: While Kirito and Asuna progress through Aincrad, four estranged brothers have found themselves reunited under the worst circumstances. The Mashadou boys struggle to keep their lives, humanity, and family intact. As if the death game wasn't enough, the youngest brother unknowingly makes enemies with the most dangerous Player Killing orange guild, Laughing Coffin.
1. Family Reunion

**Author's Note: This fanfic is dedicated to my brothers "Richard" "Santos" "Andrew" and "Francisco". I hope the rest of you can enjoy it as well.**

* * *

Sunday, November 6th 2022

"Well?" Richard asked sweeping his arms wide and out to the side. "What do you think?"

Francisco nodded his head approvingly while taking in his new surroundings. "This is pretty sweet, Rich."

"It's weird looking at you eye to eye," Andrew said from the side.

Richard shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face. In the real world Andrew was a towering 6'8" compared to Richard's own 5'6" but, since they were in a virtual world, Richard saw no harm in maxing out his avatar's height. Everyone said he was going to be tall when he was older anyway.

"Does everyone spawn here?" Santos asked side stepping to avoid the shimmering light of a new arrival.

"Yea, this is the Town of Beginnings," Richard explained. "The first time you log in you start here. We should get outta here before it gets too crowded."

The boy that appeared next to Santos looked around, smiled at the four brothers then took off in a sprint.

"Seems like he had the same idea." Francisco gestured towards the black haired boy that was disappearing down the street.

Richard indicated for Francisco, Andrew, and Santos to follow him down that same path. The four left the plaza at a brisk walk while Richard spoke. "The Beta Testers are going to wanna get to all the good monster spawn points first. With 10,000 people projected to log in at once, it's going to be slim pickings in the field." Richard looked back and offered the trailing trio a wink. "Lucky for you guys I know a secret spot where we can level up quick."

"How big is this place?" Andrew asked. His head was on a swivel, taking in every shop, building, NPC, and player within sight.

Francisco answered before Richard could. "I read that the first floor is ten kilometers wide, so about six miles from one side to the other."

"With 10,000 people that means about 357 players per square mile, assuming Aincrad's base is a perfect circle," Santos said after crunching the numbers in his head. Richard nodded, he had run the same numbers, but with a calculator, before logging on.

"There were only a thousand beta testers and we still got in each other's way, farming," Richard said shaking his head. "I can't imagine what it's gonna be like with ten times that many."

"Whoa!" Andrew flinched and brought his hands up to his face as a pop up appeared. The same window appeared in front of everyone.

 _"You are leaving the city limits."_

Richard and Santos chuckled, this was Andrew's first full-dive into virtual reality.

"Just touch the 'OK' with you finger," Richard offered closing his own window.

"This is so weird." Andrew closed the window then started messing with his other controls while they stepped onto the cobbled path that left the Town of Beginnings.

"What happens when you leave city limits?" Francisco asked.

"Players can only hurt other players outside city limits," Richard answered. "Unless you agree to a duel."

"So we could kill each other right now?" Santos asked with a mischievous grin. Richard quickly brought his hands up in front of him.

"Yea but let's teach you guys how to play and get some levels first." Richard knew how much his brothers loved to horseplay. He had little doubt their first Player Kills would be each other.

Santos laughed. "Fair enough."

* * *

"I don't like it," Andrew complained crossing his arms over his chest.

The level 1 wolf exploded into blue polygons, each of the four brothers was awarded experience points. No items were dropped.

"Because you suck at it?" Francisco asked sheathing his starter sword.

"No," Andrew said indignantly. "It's these Sword Skills. They put people who know nothing about fighting on the same level as people who train in the real world."

"I think that's the point," Santos said activating a Sword Skill and performing an incredibly dynamic and accurate thrust into a nearby tree.

Andrew was still pouting. "I could crush half of these nerds with my bare hands, in real life. What's the point of fulldive technology if Nervegear can't register my physical ability?"

"Andrew! Are you serious?" Richard asked incredulously. "Look around you! Your brain is standing in a field, in a floating castle, in a fake body, while your real body is lying still somewhere in Saipan. If we were limited to our real bodies with our real world capabilities this wouldn't be a game, it would be Life 2.0. Besides," Richard said cutting circles in the air with his sword. "Some skill transfers. Reaction time, tactics, patience, muscle memory. My fencing lessons gave me a slight advantage during the beta, after all. I'm sure you'll find a way to employ all your martial arts stuff. "

Andrew sighed then pulled up his personal menu to check the time. "Fine. Are we going to this secret spawn point or what? The wife is gonna be home in an hour and I'll have to log-off then."

"Yea, we're almost there," Richard said trying to hide his disappointment. It had been years since he'd seen Andrew and he'd practically moved mountains to make sure his second oldest brother got a copy of Sword Art Online. He wanted his brothers to be able to fight all the way up to the Ruby Palace together. His older brothers' lives were busy though, and it was likely they wouldn't be able to quest together very often, let alone log in at the same time.

"Just wanted to make sure you guys got a good feel for the combat system before we fight Sheila."

* * *

"Wow, this is pretty secluded," Francisco said surveying Sheila's den.

The Mashadou brothers were at the very edge of Floor 1, only a few yards away from the railing that would keep them from falling off Aincrad and into the cloudy abyss below. A circle of grey boulders partially covered in moss, standing anywhere from four feet to eight feet tall, formed a small enclosure around a cave. The spot was easy to miss, being hundreds of yards away from any set path.

Inside the enclosure, standing right outside the mouth of the cave, was a black haired wolf, bigger and heavier than any of the ones they had seen yet. The word "Sheila" was visible above the beast and two green health bars were just below that. She remained planted where she was, ignorant of the boys' presence even though they were well within earshot. Richard had explained you had to step into the ring of boulders in order to engage her.

"Nobody found her because she's not part of any quests, and there's no reason to stray so far from the path," Richard explained. "I only found her because I was walking the perimeter trying to avoid some orange players who were PK'ing."

"Player Killing," Santos whispered to Andrew and Francisco before either could ask. Then Santos, the third eldest brother, turned to Richard. "Can we take her? She's level five, with two health bars."

The youngest brother bobbed his head confidently. "Her attack pattern is the exact same as the wolves we've already defeated. She just takes a little longer to kill."

"Coo!" Francisco, the eldest brother, cheered drawing his sword. "Let's do it!" Without waiting for his younger siblings Francisco dove into the clearing, sword held in both his hands over his head. The moment he passed the boulders Sheila snapped to life, turning to face her attacker with a threatening snarl. A war-cry on his lips Francisco landed the first blow. Andrew, Santos, and Richard were right behind him.

"Phew, what'd she give you?" Santos asked Richard after the youngest boy landed the killing blow. Nobody had sustained more than a few scratches and everyone had made it to level three except Andrew, who was still at level two.

Richard examined the dropped item. "Sheila's Shawl," he read aloud. He hit a few buttons and equipped the item. A wolf fur, hooded cape appeared over the boy's shoulders already fastened.

"Nice," his three older brothers said in unison.

Richard turned so his brothers could admire the garment. "The stats aren't great but it can be combined with almost any of the game's armor so it's worth hanging on to."

"What's her respawn time?" Santos asked eyeing the fur cloak enviously.

"Three minutes," Richard answered. "That's part of what makes this spot so great. We can hang out here and keep killin' her until we all get to a decent level and get some fur coats to sell."

"That's cool but I'm gonna have to do it later," James said pulling up his personal menu again. "Victoria gets home any minute so I gotta go."

Richard sighed. "Okay, but see if you can get on again before too long."

"Tell the wife I said 'hi'," Francisco said with a goodbye wave.

"Will do, see you guys later."

Francisco, Santos, and Richard turned from their brother back towards Sheila's clearing.

"Uhh, Rich . . . where's the Logout button?"

* * *

Confused and a little frightened Richard watched as the sky above him darkened. Red hexagons started appearing all over the sky with "WARNING!" written in huge block letters. In moments the warning signs blocked out the entire sky over the plaza. Players everywhere were whispereing to each other in a hushed panic. Whatever this was, it was incredibly elaborate. Even more so when blood started to seep from the cracks of the hexagons. The liquid started pooling in the air until in a grand show of graphic design it formed a massive figure whose face was hidden in a crimson robe. Richard wondered if this was a Game Master.

"Attention Players," his voice boomed through the plaza silencing everyone. "Welcome to my world. My name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment, I am the only person able to control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game, I repeat this is not a defect in the game but a key feature of Sword Art Online."

"The hell?" Andrew said obviously becoming agitated. He had no time for gimmicks or grandeur presentations. He was now two hours late to return to the real world and his wife.

"You cannot log out of SAO of your own free will. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit powerful microwaves, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

"Oh shit!" Francisco exclaimed. "You can't be serious!"

"Unfortunately, there have been several instances where players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and attempted to forcibly remove the NerveGear. As a result, 213 players have exited permanently, from both Aincrad and the real world.

"It's a joke," Santos insisted. "No way he could get away with killing that many people in real life."

"As you can see," the giant robed figure pulled up multiple windows where real world news channels were displaying pictures and names of real boys and girls who had been killed by their NerveGear. Richard spotted CNN in the mix and saw Anderson Cooper interviewing a crying mother.

"News organizations across the world are reporting on this situation, including the multiple deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed has been reduced. So, I would like you all to focus on clearing the game. Be sure to keep in mind there is no longer any function to revive someone within the game. The instant your HP drops to zero, your avatars will vanish forever. And simultaneously, your brains will be destroyed by the NerveGear. The one condition for your escape is to complete this game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, floor one. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on floor 100 and you will clear the game."

"This isn't good." Andrew started saying quietly. "This isn't good, this isn't good."

"Now then, finally, I've provided you all with a present in your item storage. Please see for yourselves."

All four brothers, and most everyone else in the plaza rifled through their personal menus and into their inventory. Richard clicked the icon and a little mirror appeared in his hand. The face and eyes of his avatar stared back at him. Suddenly, there was a flashing blue light that blinded the boy. When the light subsided he could hear chaos throughout the plaza. He looked back in the mirror and saw his own, real world face looking back at him.

"Holy shit!" Richard turned to see his brothers, his real brothers in their real bodies. Andrew's avatar had looked almost identical to him in real life but now Santos and Francisco looked normal. The three of them now towered over the youngest sibling.

"How is this possible?" Francisco asked looking around. Everywhere he turned players were reappearing from the blue lights, looking incredibly less remarkable and impressive when they returned.

"The NerveGear has a high-density scanner that can reveal your face," Santos answered quickly. "I guess when we calibrated it, the gear recorded our bodies' height, weight, and measurements too." He glanced to his right curiously as a pale, pimple covered boy ran by in a little girl's dress.

"Right now, you must all be wondering, "Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do such a thing?" My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason. . . to create this world and meddle in it. And now, all is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. I wish all players, good luck." And just like that, the hooded figure vanished.

For a moment there was silence in the plaza. Richard, and the other 9,786 players of Sword Art Online, were paralyzed by shock and disbelief. Slowly though, the effect began to wear off and panic ensued.

"Guys!" Francisco said huddling his younger brothers together with his long arms. "We need to get out of here!" He started pushing Andrew, Santos and Richard away from the plaza. "This place is going to be chaos any second!" He could not have been more correct. Like a volcanic eruption wails of terror and panic exploded from the throng. Players began crashing into each other and throwing one another aside in an attempt to escape to . . . anywhere!

Francisco managed to get all three of his siblings into the street. Immediately the four of them started sprinting away.

"Where are we going?" Andrew asked. His eyes were still wide from the shock of realization. He wouldn't be returning to his wife tonight. He was trapped in a death game.

"To Sheila's Den!" Richard replied still processing everything Kayaba had said. "We need to level up quick!"

"How do we know any of that was even true?" Santos asked between strides.

"It's true," Andrew said without any hesitation. "Victoria would have ripped my NerveGear off by now unless something was stopping her."

The three brothers had no response, Andrew was right which meant they were all trapped here. All four of them finished the journey to Sheila's den in silence, thinking about the game they were now a part of. Richard was sure his brothers were angry, and maybe afraid. No, he decided, his older brothers didn't get scared, they were only angry. Angry that their youngest sibling had dragged them into this. The weight of Richard's newfound guilt threatened to slow him down.

They made it to the enclosure of boulders without any incident. Sheila was stoically waiting just outside her cave, unaware of the turmoil of almost ten thousand people.

Santos eyed her cautiously. "Are we sure this is a good idea?" he asked. "There are plenty of level 1 monsters in the fields."

"If this is the fastest way," Andrew drew his sword. "I say we stick to Sheila."

"I agree," Francisco said drawing his sword too. "Besides, it's not like she grew a level. We killed her without a problem last time and we'll kill her again."

Richard looked at his two oldest siblings. Their physiques were similar, tall and athletic, with Andrew being slightly more of both. Francisco, although the oldest Mashadou brother at twenty-six years old, was two inches shorter than Andrew. Both of them had long, gaunt faces with sharp cheek bones, sunken eyes, and big roman noses. Andrew's nose was crooked, having been broken in one of his mixed martial arts matches. Their hair, or lack thereof, was the biggest difference between the two. Francisco had a lion's mane of jet black curly hair and a goatee. Andrew was completely clean shaven and his head was shaved. The top of his dome probably felt like a hedgehog right now. Neither of them looked how Richard felt, terrified.

"Alright," Santos finally said. "Who's initiating?"

"I've got it." Francisco spun his sword in his hand. "The beastie likes me best anyways." With only a little bit more caution than the first time the oldest brother leapt into the enclave.

The only difference between the second battle and the first was the boys' minds. Their attacks had been vicious and unmeasured before they knew there would be no respawning. This time everyone was mindful of their defense, needlessly worrying about taking too much damage. It took twice as long to kill the she wolf the second time, but everyone had sustained less injuries.

A congratulations screen appeared in front of Andrew as he finally made it to level three. Francisco had landed the last blow this time and opened his item's window to examine his prize.

"Medium quality fur," he read disappointedly. "It's listed as a crafting item."

"I guess it makes sense she wouldn't drop the exact same item every time," Santos said with a shrug. "Monsters in MMORPG's never do."

"How many times are we going to keep killing her?" Richard asked looking up at the virtual sun. It hovered over Aincrad's horizon, some unknown series of 1's and 0's guiding its trajectory. They had maybe an hour more before nightfall.

"As many times as we can before our health drops into the yellow." Andrew said determinedly. "Who knows how long she'll stay a secret." Francisco and Richard nodded.

"How far is the closest safe zone from here?" Santos asked scanning the empty fields that surrounded them. The route Richard had brought them didn't go through any towns or villages.

"Ummm . . . Horunka village is to the southeast of us about two miles," Richard said trying hard to remember. "But I think Deda village is just a little bit closer, and its directly east of us, you can't miss it."

"Where's the dungeon entrance?" Andrew asked. His impatience was seeping through his voice.

Richard shook his head. "On the opposite side of floor 1, in the northeast corner, next to Tolbana. But we aren't a high enough level to head there yet."

"Why not?" Andrew asked crossing his arms.

"As you venture northeast the field becomes a forest that's filled with plant monsters called 'Nepents'. They aren't powerful one on one but they are everywhere and they swarm you. Then," Richard said doing his best to emphasize that they weren't ready but not wanting to throw anyone into a hopeless depression. "The first dungeon is full of level 6 and above Kobold Troopers who can use sword skills. Not to mention the first boss. We'll need real gear and potions before we attempt to even head that way."

Andrew growled and checked the timer he'd set in his personal menu. Another sixty seconds until Sheila returned. "How long do you think it'll take us to beat this damned game?" he asked.

Richard Mashadou wanted to shrink away under his brother's gaze. He hated giving bad news. "It took the beta testers three months just to get to Floor 10. And that was with lots and lots of deaths on everyone's part."

Andrew's jaw muscles flexed but Francisco put his hand on his shoulder to calm him. "We'll get out of here Andrew," he said in a calm voice. "Everyone wants to get home."

"Besides," Santos added. "We'll all work faster since there's no logging out, no bathroom breaks, and no homework."

Andrew took in a big breath but a growl cut him off. Sheila was back and ready to be turned into a pile of blue polygons again.

Francisco volunteered to initiate again and their assault began.

By the time the sun set the Mashadous had defeated Sheila twenty-seven times. Everyone was at level five, with their health well into the yellow. Exhausted and hungry the boys wandered east towards Deda Village. All of them now wore Sheila's Shawl, and carried a bundle of poor to moderate quality furs in their inventory. All together they had made 2,800 cor that day, more than enough to buy dinner and rent some beds. Gear could be purchased in the morning.

Deda was a measly village, more of a hamlet really. Fifteen thatched huts were built in a circle around a bonfire that seemed to start burning on its own as soon as night fell. Only a few NPC's were visible, all of them meandering in their small area of operation, waiting to be activated by a player. From the looks of the place Richard determined they were the only players here.

A flimsy wooden fence, small enough for Andrew and Francisco to step over in a single stride was the only visible barrier between the field and the village. Santos, only 6'3" had to get a running start to jump over while little Richard had to take the time to climb the pathetic barrier.

"How do we interact with the NPC's?" Francisco asked with a yawn.

"Honestly, you just treat them like people. People with very simple lives," Richard answered. He walked up to the closest NPC, a farmer who was leaning against his hut.

"Good evening," Richard said holding his hand out in greeting. The man pulled himself off the wall of his hut and took Richard's hand.

"You're sure out late," he said in an almost human voice. "What can I do for you?" A window with several options appeared next to the man. The farmer waited patiently, a smile on his face, while Richard read the options. He touched the 'INFO' option.

"Well if it's a hot bowl of lamb stew you're looking for, Cathy over there is who you wanna talk to." He pointed to a plump woman with a stained apron and a plain brown dress. "And if you're looking fer a place to lay yer weary head talk to Ol' Rover, the village leader. He can letcha rent one o' these empty castles har, har, har!"

Richard chuckled at the terrible joke and thanked the farmer. The NPC's programming recognized the dismissal and returned to leaning on his "castle". Richard looked at his brothers with a smile.

"Food and a place to stay," he said with a thumbs up.

The older brothers nodded their approval.

The lamb stew ended up costing more than renting a hut for the week. 700 cor were begrudgingly turned over to Ol' Rover to rent an entire hut for the week and 1,000 cor was spent for a cauldron of lamb stew. The cauldron came with twelve servings though so Santos convinced his brothers it was worth it. After a full day of mercilessly killing Sheila the brothers couldn't have asked for a more satisfying meal.

"This reminds me of our house in Metairie," Francisco said when he had finally laid down. The inside of their rented hut had only two large rooms. One was the kitchen/dining room containing only a small fireplace, a counter, a wooden dining table, and four wooden chairs. The other was a bedroom with two queen size beds, a cot, and a couch. Francisco and Andrew wasted no time in calling dibs on the beds. Santos called the couch, and the youngest sibling was stuck on the cot.

"I don't remember Metairie," Richard said with a frown. There was only one candle for the whole room and it rested on the windowsill, fake amber flame barely making a dent in the darkness.

Santos snorted. "'Cause you weren't born yet. You weren't born until the year we left Louisiana. Hell I was only three years old."

"But this is what it was like," Andrew said. "Mom and Dad couldn't afford a bigger house so me, Francisco, Nicole, and Martina all shared a bedroom."

"Mm-hmm," Francisco agreed. "I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to be sharing a room with you guys again for a long time. Next Christmas at the soonest."

Everybody chuckled quietly.

"Would have been even longer for me," Andrew said. "The Marines have me stationed in Saipan for another two years."

"I guess there's one upside to all this then," Richard dared to say. "We get to spend some time with each other."

"I guess," Santos offered. Andrew and Francisco said nothing.

"Are you sure we're safe in here?" Andrew asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yea," Richard answered stifling a yawn. "That little fence isn't keeping anything out but monsters never come into safe areas and it's impossible for players to PK, steal, or break into any sort safe area. We're actually safer in this hut in SAO than you would be in a real house, locked shut, in the real world."

A loud yawn from Andrew. "I hope you're right. Goodnight guys."

"Goodnight."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Intro is out of the way now. I'm relying heavily on SAO wiki to help me stay true to Kawahara Reki's work and the anime. Feel free to point out any plot-holes or issues you find, preferably in PM but I'm not your boss. It goes without saying that I don't own Sword Art Online.**

 **Thanks!**


	2. Socrates

Monday, November 7th 2022

Richard's Journal:

"Well, it's the end of day two in Sword Art Online, God only knows how long I'll be here so I may as well start recording everything that happens. Supposedly this will save to my NerveGear so when this is all over I can look back and read all of this. Who knows, maybe I can publish it and make millions like those Chileans that wrote that story about their time trapped in the mines. Or maybe they'll have something to read at my funeral so Mom can share my last moments. . . yikes.

Anyway, day two. I think we all wanted it to be a bad dream, especially Andrew. He was the first one up this morning, I guess since he's in Guam he's better adjusted to SAO's time changes, which should be identical to Japan's. That and all his military stuff. He probably couldn't help it. He went out and killed some of the level one boars and wolves around the village. He didn't make it out to Sheila, said he wouldn't face her alone until he got a better feel for the game. I'm sure he still finds combat here frustrating. In the real world he fights professionally, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Judo, Muay Thai, MMA, the whole shebang. I wanted to get into that stuff too but I think I'm too small for that right now. And I don't like getting punched in the face.

Francisco looks like he's taking all this the best, with a sort of quiet acceptance. I've never seen him as ferocious as he was this morning and yesterday. After we woke up and everyone had some more of our lamb stew, we headed out to Sheila's den. Just like yesterday Francisco volunteered to initiate. He's always been protective like that, I guess. A couple years ago I was getting picked on by a bully at school. I ignored him like they tell you to but one day he actually started beating me up, gave me a bloody nose and busted lip. Francisco was twenty-four at the time. When I came home crying he jumped in his car, drove to the kid's house, and threatened to be up the child, his siblings, and the parents. He's not as much of a martial arts enthusiast as Andrew but he's twice as intimidating, despite being shorter and thinner. I remember he used to do karate but he never went super far with it.

I heard him and Santos strategizing this morning during one of our breaks from Sheila. Santos is by far the smartest of us four, and he's got a really good feel for SAO. The Army is paying for his college right now, putting him through Pre-med then later probably Med school. Everyone is super proud of him but especially Dad and Andrew. Dad is happy one of his children is going to be a commissioned officer just like him, and Andrew his brother has what it takes to join the military. There's a running joke between them that one day Andrew will have to salute Santos since Andrew is enlisted. I don't know if I'll join the military or not. I don't want to kill people, but neither do Andrew or Santos and they joined.

I'm worried Francisco, Andrew and Santos blame me for getting trapped in SAO. They would never say it but I'm sure they're thinking it. Maybe not Santos since he was super excited about SAO on his own but definitely Francisco and Andrew. I wish I hadn't forced them to play with me.

That being said, I'm glad they're here. If what Akihiko Kayaba said is true, and we can't leave until all 100 levels are cleared, we are going to be here for a LONG time. I tried to downplay it for Andrew but I died more than two dozen times just trying to get through floor 6. I know the other Beta-testers had similar experiences on the other floors. There's no way we are going to get to floor one hundred in a couple months. Maybe a year, maybe. I'm going to keep that to myself though, no need to worry my brothers.

We have yet to see anyone other players. It's only been two days but so far nobody has made it out to Deda. All the Beta-testers know how tiny and crappy it is so none of them will come this way but I half expected a mob of newbies to come fleeing out of the Town of Beginnings. Maybe everyone stopped in Horunka Village. There's a blacksmith that gives you a quest for a decent sword there, the Beta-testers will want to knock that out asap.

Tomorrow will be probably be the same as today. Nobody gained any levels but we killed Sheila a bunch of times. No more "Sheila's Shawl" were dropped but we each have one already. I think we look pretty cool in these furs, and nobody else will have them for a while. I wish SAO hadn't converted back to my real size. I'm average size for a 14 year old but I look like a baby next to my brothers. Santos is only eighteen but he's already 6'4". Francisco and Andrew are even taller than that.

Well it's getting late, I think I'm going to call it a night.

I wonder what Mom and the girls are doing in the real world right now."

* * *

Sunday, November 13th 2022

"It's been a week," Francisco said as the brothers gathered in the center of Deda. They had taken to eating their meals outside instead of trying to cram themselves in the tiny hut. "Our contract on the hut expires," he continued, "so we can either renew it and keep grinding away at Sheila or we can move on to another village and new hunting grounds."

"I'm ready for the next village," Andrew said. He was finally getting used to the sword skills and combat of SAO, and was ready to press forward with beating Floor 1. "We should press on to Tolbana and start working on the first dungeon."

Santos interjected, "We need better gear before we try to push through the forest."

Richard nodded in agreement.

"Our starting gear has gotten us this far because we've only gone up against one opponent at a time, usually all four of us against Sheila," Santos continued. "According to Rich, there's a chance we'll get swarmed by monsters in the forest. We need better armor as a minimum, and better weapons if we can afford it."

"Alright," Andrew said seeing the logic in what his younger brother was saying. "Where do we go to get armor?" He pointed at the nearest NPC. "These guys don't sell shit besides cleavers, blankets and lamb stew."

Richard answered, "The Town of Beginnings. It has the largest population of NPC's in all of Floor 1, maybe all of Aincrad. Lots of different shops and armorers to choose from."

"Are we sure we want to mix that closely with all the other players?" Francisco asked. "I bet the majority of players haven't wandered too far from that place." He looked at each of this brothers. "That's roughly ten thousand people inside one square kilometer. It could be dangerous."

Santos shook his head. "It's impossible to hurt anyone inside a city so there's nothing to fear once we make it inside. Since you can't pick up the items from another player that you kill," he looked towards Richard to confirm this then continued when he received an affirmative head bob. "And players don't offer a whole lot of EXP so I can't imagine many people will be attacking each other. Not to mention the orange icon over their head if they've committed a crime."

"So if we avoid any orange players we should be good?" Andrew asked.

"Should be, yea," Santos answered. "We're all at level 5 so we shouldn't have any problems with monsters on the way back."

Francisco climbed up to his feet. "Then it's decided, we'll head to the Town of Beginnings, spend the night there, then head for Tolbana."

The other three brothers all rose to their feet too in agreement.

"I'm gonna grab one more cauldron of lamb stew," Richard said heading for Cathy. "This is the only place on Floor 1 where you can get it so maybe we can sell it for a profit."

A fresh pot of lamb stew, and their pile of fur's and cors in tow, the Mashadou brothers left Deda and headed for the Town of Beginnings.

"Do we wanna say hi to Sheila on last time?" Andrew asked jokingly. The brothers chuckled amongst themselves.

"She's kind of like family now, huh?" Francisco added.

Richard was looking out in the direction of her den when something caught his eye. "Actually guys, we may want to stop by." He pointed and the brothers turned to see what the youngest had spotted. A player, equipped only with his starting sword and clothes, was running away from a dire wolf, headed directly for Sheila's Den.

"He's gonna kill himself!" Andrew cried. Without waiting for anyone else he took off at a sprint for the boy.

"Andrew, wait!" Francisco called, hot on his younger brother's heels. Santos and Richard shared a look then followed, drawing their weapons as they ran.

Richard could see that the boy running was terrified, tears running down his reddened face as he ran for his life, his health bar already in the yellow. Just as the player approached Sheila's Den, the wolf chasing him gave up, it's programming telling it to return to its spawn point. The boy didn't notice. He disappeared from view, running through the boulders that surrounded Sheila's enclave.

"Crap," Richard said between breathes as he pushed his legs as hard as they would go. He could actually feel SAO limiting his max speed as he hadn't earned enough levels to run at his top speed in the real world.

A frightened shriek echoed through the boulders and into the field. Francisco and Andrew had their weapons out and barreled into the lair. Just as Santos and Richard reached the edge a pathetic cry for help escaped the player's lips. Sheila had the boy's throat in her jaws, and was yanking the boy's body about. Richard gasped, momentarily stunned by the ferocity. This was Sheila's special attack. The brothers hadn't seen it yet because they hadn't been careless enough to lower their guard.

Tears welling up in his eyes the player, a boy barely older than Richard, reached out for Francisco and Andrew. He exploded into a mess of blue polygons just as Andrew's sword cut into Sheila's hide.

"No!" Andrew screamed as his sword bit into the beast. Francisco was right behind him, equally furious. Santos and Richard joined the fray in an instant.

A week of fighting the same monster every five minutes of every day, and they had never defeated Sheila as quickly as they defeated her just then. Richard landed the last blow.

"Dammit." Andrew said when Sheila disappeared. He put his hand on his face and clenched his eyes shut. "What the hell was he doing out here alone? Why would he run into this pit?"

Francisco put his hand on his taller brother's shoulder. "It's not our fault, Andrew," he said in his soothing voice.

Andrew growled and shook his head, then dropped his hand and sighed. "I know, I know, you're right." He turned to Richard. "Why couldn't I run any faster? It literally felt like a hand was pushing on my chest preventing me from running at full speed."

"It's the game," Santos answered for him. "Running is a skill that goes up with your level. That was our top speed at level 5."

Andrew kicked the ground in front of him. "God I hate this game."

Richard didn't want to say anything but he was confused by the window in front of him. They had been awarded no experience, money, or items for that kill. He was just about to speak up when he heard a yipping noise from the side.

Francisco, Andrew, and Santos spun around, swords at the ready. Out of the cave that served as Sheila's shelter came a little wolf pup, waddling about on tiny legs.

Francisco snorted. "What is that?"

The wolf pup ignored the three brothers and their swords and waddled over to Richard.

"It doesn't have a health bar," Santos commented as it walked right past him.

Curiously enough the puppy stopped immediately in front of Richard. A window appeared next to its fluffy face. Richard squatted down to examine what looked like a ton of writing in the window.

"What's it say?" Andrew asked walking around to get a better look.

Richard skimmed through the paragraphs of writing then started shaking his hand excitedly.

"It's a special event!" Richard practically squealed. "It's offering me the extra skill "Beast Tamer" if I accept the wolf pup as my pet!"

"Nice!" his older brothers said.

"What are you waiting for? Accept it!" Francisco insisted.

Richard flicked through the window until he found the "Accept or Reject" option. He pressed "accept" without any hesitation. An empty bar appeared over the wolf pup's head asking for a name.

"What should I name him?" Richard asked. It had taken the boy almost an hour to decide on his SAO character's name. He ended up choosing "Leonhardt" so he could dub himself "Richard the Lion Hearted" with his friends.

"It's your pet," Andrew said. "What would you name a pet wolf in the real world?"

Richard thought for a minute and examined the puppy. Right now it looked like a cute ball of fluff, with mostly gray fur and a couple of dark brown and black parts. Despite its cuteness Richard thought he could see intelligence in the creature's eyes, wisdom and knowledge. He knew that it was just the graphic design of SAO but he couldn't shake the feeling.

"Socrates," he announced as he typed in the name.

His brothers nodded their heads approvingly.

"An original name for a wolf," Santos commented.

Richard hit "enter" then stood up, waiting excitedly to see what would happen. Suddenly there was an exploding pain in his chest.

"Aaargh!" he cried clutching his chest. His vision swam and he felt himself falling down. The pain was incredible, and way too real for anything in SAO.

"Rich!" Francisco cried out, catching his brother before he collapsed onto the ground. The eldest brother watched helplessly as his youngest sibling spasmed in his arms. After fifteen painfully long seconds Richard was still.

"Oh man," Richard said rubbing his sternum. "What was that?"

"Are you okay?" Francisco asked. He helped pull Richard up to his feet.

"Yea, the pain is gone now." He looked around his brother, "Look!"

Right before their eyes the wolf puppy, "Socrates" now visible above a green health bar, started growing. His nose stretched longer, his ears grew bigger, his legs too became longer and thicker. The fluffy fur was replaced with a real fur coat and his body fleshed out. The puppy was now only a little bit smaller than a fully grown german shepherd.

The brothers stood there stunned by the creature's transformation. Socrates wagged his tail excitedly then barked, causing all of them to jump.

"Well," Andrew said slowly reaching out to pet the juvenile wolf. "He'll be much more useful at this size." Socrates turned his head to the side then started licking the man's outreached hand. Andrew chuckled. "Check it out Rich, he likes me." Andrew glanced over at his brother. The boy looked like he was about to cry. "What's wrong, Rich?"

Richard shook his head. "I should have read the whole thing," he said in a voice that was about to crack. He pointed up to his HP bar that only he could see in the top left corner of his vision. "It said that I had to permanently sacrifice ten percent of my max HP to accept the extra skill."

Francisco and Santos winced, Andrew pulled his hand away from the wolf.

"Can you undo it?" Santos asked concerned.

Richard didn't bring his eyes up to look at his brothers. "No," he said. "It's not an option. And if Socrates dies, my HP stays at 90% forever." He finally looked up, embarrassed and ashamed.

Santos looked from Richard to Socrates. He seemed to be considering something important. When he turned back to Richard he said, "No, this is a good thing. Even if you'd read the whole thing we would have decided to accept," he insisted.

Richard rubbed his nose. "You think so?"

Santos nodded confidently. "Right now ten percent of your health was what? Maybe one hundred hit points? How much health does Socrates have?"

Richard looked at the health bar that now sat closely under his own, above the bars of his brothers.

"He's got half as much health as I do," Richard answered.

Santos held out his arms. "See? Simple arithmetic. You traded ten percent for an extra fifty percent that can fight on its own."

Richard smiled, feeling a little better. "He'll level up too," he said remembering that one of the Beta-testers he'd met a while ago had this extra skill. "So he'll gain more HP with each level."

"Very nice," Francisco said. "But in the future, let's make sure we read everything before ever clicking 'Accept'."

"Try him out," Andrew said rising back to his feet. "Tell Socrates to do something."

"Okay!" Richard turned to his new familiar. "Come here, Socrates." With an excited wag of his tail Socrates ran over to his master and sat at his feet. His pink tongue was hanging out of his mouth between long white canines.

"Good boy!" Richard rubbed his new pet's head. Socrates nuzzled him affectionately.

"Let's get out of here before Sheila returns." Andrew said glancing at his timer in his personal window. "I don't really feel like fighting her again after today."

The brothers all nodded and left her den for the last time.

On their way to the Town of Beginnings nobody mentioned the player that had been killed by Sheila. Instead everyone's attention was on Richard and Socrates. They picked fights with several of the low level boar, wolves and mantises in the field to gage Socrates's abilities.

They learned that Socrates could be ordered to attack an opponent on his own, or he could be set to guard mode, where he would only attack monsters that targeted Richard. He was way faster than any of the brothers but his attack damage was just under theirs. His attack patterns were also incredibly basic but Richard was convinced that would change as he leveled up. They determined that Socrates didn't level up on his own, but that he shared Richard's level. Interestingly enough they also discovered that Richard's skill levels in hearing and spotting had skyrocketed well above everyone else's and his sense of smell had even increased. The sensation was a little nauseating for the boy at first.

When he wasn't sending Socrates into battle, Richard devoted time to reading the "Tamed Monster" window while he walked. The most important detail, emphasized multiple times in the info window was that Socrates had to be fed every day. On top of that, every time he let Socrates's health fall into the red, the wolf's affinity value would depreciate, and eventually it could turn on him as a regular monster. He read the whole thing twice but couldn't find an option to view Socrates's current affinity value. He tried asking Socrates himself but all he got was a sopping wet kiss and a yip from the wolf.

Richard determined that Socrates was not one of the familiars that could heal its master. The extra levels and a fighting companion would be all he was getting. That was fine with him though, he'd always wanted his own dog.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So "Beast-Tamer" wasn't an actual skill in the SAO universe. Anyone could tame a wild monster, it was just a matter of chance that was affected by the level of the monster, its type, the food that was offered to it, and so on and so forth. I changed that up just a little bit for the sake of my story. Even the name "Beast-Tamer" was just a phrase used by players to identify someone who had tamed a monster. It wasn't a class in its own right.**

 **Hope you guys at least find this decently interesting. More words and chapters will follow later. Thanks!**


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